You Should Have Known
by Porticulis
Summary: It's the golden pairings in BBA of Rei and Kai and Tyson and Max. Or apparently so. Forbidden desires threaten to break the sanctity of love or is it . . . love itself that rises to destroy itself? [Dedicated to Guillaume Favreau]


A/N: Something I wrote a long time ago and I've been threatened to write a continuation to this so I might. Dedicated to the one who plagued my mind enough to inspire this painful piece, but I'm largely over it now and we are almost friends.

**You should have known**  
  
Hot breaths claimed him, shallow, painful, eager. It claimed him. The smell of beer couldn't dull the thrill coursing down his spine. Those pale hands grasped his and the sheer intensity! Tyson raised his face to taste those intoxicated lips. Warm, thirsty . . . the desire to quench this need . . . he prayed, oh God, he prayed that Kai would posses him right here and now, prayed for this monstrous bliss, for a night's worth of paradise in hell. Drugged crimson eyes watched him and for a flickering moment his mind whispered that they should be blue, blue like a soulful ocean. Tyson watched unflinchingly as the Russian youth toyed with his t- shirt. He raised a traitorous hand to help.  
  
The night was long and dark.

* * *

Kai awoke and immediately tried to block the harsh light with his arm. He was attempting to ignore the orange glow when something stirred beside him. A confused thought half- formed in his mind.  
  
Rei?  
  
But Rei was over at Kenny's.  
  
Kai shot up and turned to look upon the figure beside him. Dark blue hair, stubborn nose . . . His heart raced . . . there had to be a logical explanation. He had got into an argument with Rei then Rei left . . . and then so had he. Where had he gone then?  
  
Snatches of memory filled the blanks with horrible clarity. He had got a six- pack and found somewhere quiet to brood and then he had called Tyson, called Tyson and asked him to bring some drinks with him. Tyson came . . . they drank . . . talked about Rei and then . . .  
  
Kai glanced at the room, his room. This was his rented apartment. Tyson must have brought him home. He turned back to the boy beside him, his lithe and obviously naked body. He couldn't they were dead drunk . . . he would have remembered. And he couldn't remember anything. Right?  
  
Warm, it had been so warm. Things had become so complicated and . . . and that body was so warm and so comforting. The rest followed naturally . . . only it wasn't natural. Damn it! It was perverse! He was Rei's and Rei's alone and Tyson, Tyson was Max's. Damn!  
  
"Tyson, Tyson get up damn it!"  
  
"Mmmrrrggghhh."  
  
"Get up!"  
  
Tyson opened his eyes a fraction and his eyes widened suddenly.  
  
"What the fu- "  
  
Kai watched as realisation dawned on that oblivious expression.  
  
"We-" Tyson sputtered  
  
But Kai cut him off.  
  
"How the fuck did this happen?"  
  
Tyson stared at him incredulously.  
  
"What are you talking about?"  
  
"_What I'm talking about?_ I'm talking about this!" Kai raged sweeping his arm violently over the sheets.  
  
"What am I supposed to do now huh?"  
  
"You're asking me?" Tyson growled rising from the pillows.  
  
"Is it my bloody fault? What do you want me to say? That it was an accident? It happened Kai and you were a willing part in it!"  
  
"I was drunk damn it! I was upset and drunk and- aargh! That's not the point! What about Rei? What about Max?"  
  
A shadow passed over the Japanese youth's bright, angry eyes.  
  
"What do we tell them?" he whispered quietly.  
  
Kai opened his mouth as if to holler again but he ground his teeth instead. In a fluid furious motion he snatched up his discarded clothes and stormed into the bathroom. Tyson jumped slightly as the door slammed shut. He stared vacantly at the door and slowly drew himself off the bed. Then he lashed his arm about him catching a bedside lamp and shattering it. A sharp sting made him wince and he looked down to see blood oozing out of his foot. He stood there for some time, staring at the blood trickling. Then, as if waking from a trance, he picked up his clothes and left the room, bloody footprints trailing after him.  
  
The front door shut itself loud enough for Kai to know Tyson had left. Cursing, he turned on the tap and splashed the cool water over his feverish skin.  
  
What was he going to tell Rei? What could he say?  
  
Kai looked at the haggard image of himself. Slate hair dripping wet and plastered about his chalk- white face and a faint suggestion of eye- bags. He was a sight. If he was going to meet up with Rei later he had better go freshen up.  
  
Sauntering exhaustedly over to the shower a growing disquiet filled him. Would Tyson tell anyone about this? Damn! He should have planned something with Tyson.  
  
Kai made for the door but paused halfway. Tyson would have been long gone by now and it would be some time before the Japanese boy reached home. Besides, he didn't think Tyson would be so dumb as to tell Max.  
  
_'So you're going to lie to Rei.'_  
  
"It's for the best.", Kai whispered reassuringly to himself.  
  
"It's for the best."  
  
The words echoed hollowly about the bathroom tiles.  
  
It was a moment later before Kai entered the shower and ripped the shower curtains shut.

* * *

Tyson walked the streets oblivious to the happenings about him. He walked with himself, in himself. Several thoughts loomed darkly in his mind. He vaguely recognised them as Kai, Max and Rei for they were the contents of these thoughts. Aside from that all he felt was a peculiar and inexplicable numbness.  
  
So what if Max broke up with him? So what if Rei didn't ever want to have anything to do with him, or even Kenny for that matter. It would only be adding an extra scar or two. He was already wounded. So wounded . . .  
  
Several lines of poetry surfaced in his nebulous thoughts.  
  
_'A broken swallow am I,  
  
That has wings but does not fly.  
  
What further insult can winter bring?  
  
When my heart alone does sing?'  
_  
It began to drizzle. The air began to shimmer with rain and umbrellas sprouted amongst the human traffic, bobbing silently above the press of bodies. Those without umbrellas rose briefcases or the morning papers. The morning rain glistened on Tyson's slightly tanned skin, his navy blue hair plastered to his face. The rain amplified the sound of traffic, washing away the noise of conversation, of complaints, of deep murmurs and of hushed whispers. Yet above it all, he heard his heart beating. Pounding and pounding . . . straining against a burden he couldn't remove.  
  
Tyson gasped, pupils dilated and hand raised halfway to his chest. His knees buckled.  
  
"Tyson!"  
  
Warm hands gripped his arm.  
  
"Come on man, stand for God's sake!""  
  
The pain subsided but a wave of dizziness and nausea made it hard to see the person before him. But he recognised the voice.  
  
"Max.",Tyson croaked in a bare whisper.  
  
"Come on let's get you out of the rain.""  
  
Tyson tried to focus on the image before him and had to blink away the tears of pain.  
  
"Come on Tyson, I'll help you.""  
  
Tyson felt the strong grip about his waist.  
  
"Max . . ."  
  
"Let's get you out of the rain before we talk. You look terrible. You're running a fever!""  
  
"Max I . . ."  
  
"Tyson-"  
  
"I'm sorry . . . I let you down.""  
  
Cerulean eyes hovered vaguely in Tyson's vision.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Last night I- ngh!""  
  
Max looked on in horror as Tyson clutched his chest and fell slowly limp in his arms.  
  
"TYSON!"

* * *

The apparent end for now. 


End file.
